David Oliver Cohen (born June 9, 1980) is an American writer, actor and entrepreneur based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. He is one of the authors of the ''White Girl Problems'' book series, and a founder of

Swish Beverages Swish Beverages (stylized as SWISH) is an American wine brand produced in California. It was launched with the release of White Girl Rosé in 2015. History Founding Swish Beverages was formed by social media personality Josh Ostrovsky (aka "The ...

Early life and education

Cohen grew up in

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

.Scott Eidler
"Twitter's 'White Girl Problems' equal parts therapy, humor,"
''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'', December 30, 2011. He attended

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, where he studied acting.Diana Cooper
"White Girl Problems Founders Talk Babe Walker's Success, New Book 'Psychos' and Turning the Book Into a Film,"
''

Life & Style ''Life & Style'' is an American syndicated talk show that was geared toward young adult females. It was produced and distributed by Sony Pictures Television and lasted only one season, from September 2004 to March 2005. It is unrelated to the cel ...

'', May 6, 2014. He is Jewish

Career

Writing

In 2010, Cohen, his brother

Tanner Cohen Tanner Cohen is an American stage, film and television actor, and singer. Career In 2006, Cohen appeared as Tad Becker in five episodes of the American soap opera ''As the World Turns''. He appeared in the 2007 thriller ''The Life Before Her Eyes ...

and Lara Schoenhals created a

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

account called White Girl Problems, writing under the pseudonym Babe Walker, a fictional 20-something socialite.Marah Eakin
"The two dudes behind White Girl Problems justify their existence,"
''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

'', June 28, 2016. They signed a deal to turn the Twitter feed into a book series, with the first novel, ''White Girl Problems'', published in 2012 under the pen name Babe Walker. It became a ''New York Times'' best-seller the following month. The follow-up, ''Psychos'', was published in 2014, and ''American Babe'', the final novel in the trilogy, was published in 2016. The film rights to ''White Girl Problems'' were purchased by

Lionsgate Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered ...

in 2013.Anita Busch
"Lauren Palmigiano Set To Direct Lionsgate's 'White Girl Problems',"
''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, with ...

'', August 15, 2016. In 2016, it was announced that the film was in development, to be directed by Lauren Palmigiano and produced by

Elizabeth Banks Elizabeth Banks (born Elizabeth Irene Mitchell; February 10, 1974) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is known for playing Effie Trinket in ''The Hunger Games'' film series (2012–2015) and Gail Abernathy-McKadden in the ''Pitch Perfe ...

and

Max Handelman Max Handelman (born May 3, 1973) is an American sportswriter, producer, and blogger. He co-wrote the book ''Why Fantasy Football Matters: (And Our Lives Do Not)'' with Erik Barmack. Handelman is married to actress Elizabeth Banks. Handelman co-fo ...

, and to star

Danielle Macdonald Danielle Louise Macdonald (born 19 May 1991) is an Australian actress, known for her lead roles as Patricia "Patti" Dombrowski in the drama film ''Patti Cake$'' (2017), and Willowdean Dickson in '' Dumplin (2018). She is also known for her r ...

. Under the pseudonym Taylor Bell, a fictional college freshman, Cohen and his brother co-wrote the 2015 novel ''Dirty Rush''. In 2015, it was announced that TriStar had purchased the rights to ''Dirty Rush'', with the film to be produced by Banks and Handelman. Credited to The Fat Jew, the 2015 book ''Money Pizza Respect'' was written by Josh Ostrovsky and Cohen, as a collection of comedic personal essays based on Ostrovsky's life.

Acting

Cohen starred as Daniel McDaniel on the

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

show '' Taina'' for two years, starting in 2001.Dorkys Ramos
"The Cast of Nickelodeon's 'Taina': Where Are They Now?"
Vivala, February 25, 2016. Following that, he performed as the lead, narrator and filmmaker Mark Cohen, in the national tour of the musical ''

Rent Rent may refer to: Economics *Renting, an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property *Economic rent, any payment in excess of the cost of production *Rent-seeking, attempting to increase one's share of e ...

''. From 2006 to 2007, he portrayed Kip Lonegan on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

soap opera ''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other soa ...

''.

Film

Cohen produced the documentary ''

Sex Positive The sex-positive movement is a social movement, social and philosophical movement that seeks to change cultural attitudes and norms around sexuality, promoting the recognition of sexuality (in the countless forms of expression) as a natural and he ...

'', which profiles safe sex activist

Richard Berkowitz Richard Berkowitz (born October 6, 1955) is a gay American author and activist best known as an early advocate of safe sex in response to the AIDS crisis among gay men in the 1980s.Gross, Jane (September 22, 1985)Homosexuals stepping up AIDS ed ...

and premiered at the 2008

South by Southwest Film Festival South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, T ...

. He directed and produced the 2010 documentary ''Fast Boy'', about a young man's struggle with cancer.

Wine

In 2015, Cohen, Josh Ostrovsky,

and Alexander Ferzan co-founded the company

, producer of several wines including White Girl Rosé and Babe Rosé With Bubbles.Olivia Sterns
"Meet 'White Girl Rose,' the Wine-on-Demand From 'The Fat Jew' and 'White Girl Problems',"
''

Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'', June 12, 2015.

Personal life

Cohen lives in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

with his wife Cristi Andrews, an actress, and their two children. Cohen's younger brother is actor and writer

Bibliography

* ''White Girl Problems'' ( Hyperion Books, January 31, 2012, ) - as Babe Walker * ''Psychos: A White Girl Problems Book'' (

Gallery Books Gallery Publishing Group is a general interest publisher and a division of Simon & Schuster which houses the imprints Gallery Books, Pocket Books, Scout Press, Gallery 13, and Saga Press. Jen Bergstrom is the Senior Vice President and Publisher. ...

, April 29, 2014, ) - as Babe Walker * ''Dirty Rush'' (Gallery Books, January 13, 2015, ) - as Taylor Bell * ''Money Pizza Respect'' (

Grand Central Publishing Grand Central Publishing is a book publishing imprint of Hachette Book Group, originally established in 1970 as Warner Books when Warner Communications acquired the Paperback Library. When Time Warner sold their book publishing business to Hachett ...

, November 3, 2015, ) - with Josh Ostrovsky * ''American Babe: A White Girl Problems Book'' (Gallery Books, June 28, 2016, ) - as Babe Walker * ''Babe Walker: Thirsty'' ( Pocket Star, May 29, 2017, e-book) - as Babe Walker

Filmography

Television

Film

References

External links

*
Babe Walker website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, David Oliver Living people 1980 births Writers from Annapolis, Maryland Writers from New York City Novelists from Washington, D.C. Male actors from Maryland Male actors from New York City New York University alumni American winemakers Jewish American male actors Jewish American novelists Businesspeople from New York City Novelists from New York (state) Novelists from Maryland 21st-century American Jews